The new US$ 250 million (€236 million) plant possesses an annual capacity of 1.5 million tonnes (5,000tonnes/day) and is located at Tabligbo, some 80km north-east of the capital city Lomé.
More than 2,000 guests attended the ceremony, among them the president of the Republic of Togo; the president of the National Assembly, and the German ambassador in Togo.
With the Scantogo investment, HeidelbergCement has become the largest German foreign investor in Togo.
HeidelbergCement also inaugurated the new Cimburkina cement grinding plant in Burkina Faso, the neighbouring country of Togo to the north.
The new US$ 50 million (€47.25 million) plant has an annual capacity of 0.8 million tonnes and is located near the capital city Ouagadougou.
More than 400 guests attended the ceremony, including the Minister of Industry and Commerce; the representative of the Minister of Economy and Finance, the local representative of the Emperor of the Mossi people as well as a number of traditional chiefs and religious leaders.
"The new greenfield facilities are part of our strategy of expanding our cement capacities in growth markets. In addition to Asia these include, in particular, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa", said Dr Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of Heidelberg Cement, who attended both inauguration ceremonies together with Daniel Gauthier, member of the managing board of HeidelbergCement responsible for Africa, and the general management of the HeidelbergCement Africa team, including the respective country managers.
“The new clinker plant in Togo will greatly improve our competitiveness by enabling us to replace expensive clinker imports by local sourcing.
The clinker from Togo will also be used in our new grinding plant close to Ouagadougou to produce cement for the local construction industry in Burkina Faso. Our new plants are strengthening our position in both countries as well as in the whole region.”
Scantogo will supply clinker to HeidelbergCement's West African cement grinding mills in Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Ghana, partly replacing expensive clinker that has previously been imported from overseas, and thereby strengthen HeidelbergCement's competitiveness in the region.
HeidelbergCement has been present in Togo since 1984 with the Cimtogo grinder in Lomé.
Scantogo represents a major industrial development and directly employs some 200 people. The new operation will also create around 1,000 additional jobs locally.
It will significantly contribute to domestic cement production and local infrastructure development. Exports from Scantogo will provide Togo with important currency inflows.
HeidelbergCement has also recently started to build a 0.25 million tonnes cement capacity greenfield grinder in the Kara region in the northern part of Togo, which will be ready by 2017.
Cimburkina will stimulate the improvement of local infrastructure and housing by providing quality cement, and is expected to create around 100 jobs at the plant, and more than 300 indirect jobs.
With the inauguration of the new capacities, HeidelbergCement further extends its footprint in the growing markets of sub-Saharan Africa.
The company is now active in eight countries south of the Sahara and operates three integrated cement plants; one clinker plant and eight grinding plants with a total cement capacity of about 10 million tonnes/year.
By growing local clinker and cement capacities, HeidelbergCement secures adequate supply to serve these attractive growth markets and sharpens the company's competitive edge in West Africa.
